Lennon sets his benchmark
Saturday’s defeat made for painful viewing and set off some alarm bells amongst the support.
Similar alarm bells were heard last season, most noticeably in autumn culminating in the 0-3 half-time reverse at Kilmarnock.
Lennon refused to buckle or panic, retained his trust in the players to romp off with the title the next time they visited Ayrshire.
Now the timescale is much shorter.
Celtic have to be match-sharp next week to meet HJK Helsinki and take a lead to Finland capable of seeing them through into the final Champions League qualifier where the hard work really begins.
If they see off the Finns August will be dominated by headlines of £20m jackpots- the sort of money that will allow the club to breathe easily throughout the season and provide a meaningful challenge for players and supporters.
For at least 20 years Celtic have cast envious eyes at the ‘Ajax system’ with Tommy Burns spending time on the training ground of the Dutch masters trying to uncover the secret of developing footballers that look comfortable on the ball.
Lennon was part of a Celtic side that bulldozed Ajax out of the Champions League in 2001 and wants to see his Celtic side make a similar impact on the tournament.
“Where Ajax are, that’s the level we need to get to,” he explained after Saturday’s defeat. “They are a great team in Europe, and that’s where we want to be.
“It’s a learning curve for us, but we know we need to do better. We didn’t do ourselves justice. We were not competitive enough and they kept the ball really well and scored some good goals.
“We know we have got to do better and, hopefully, against Helsinki we can. We have got better as the pre-season has gone on. Obviously the Ajax result didn’t show that, but we have two more tough games which will help us go into the European game.
“We would definitely rather make the mistakes in these friendlies than against Helsinki.
The Ajax game was a marker for where we are and where we need to be to challenge for the Champions League.”
Lennon has got two matches against Norwich and Inter Milan to bring his side upto speed to meet the Finn’s with establishing the best defensive system the priority.
CLICK HERE for teenager turns down Manchester United for Celtic
Follow Video Celts on Twitter and Facebook